That B---- that lives below us!
by anotherOUATwriter
Summary: AU. Emma and Ruby live in a quiet, peaceful building. That is until a so-called Regina Mills moves to the apartment below theirs and Emma's safe haven becomes the Devil's hell on earth. / T rated for language and content.
1. That B----!

This is a short story to channel all my SwanQueen feels while I try to finish the rest of my fics.

This story was inspired on a conversation I had with LostSoulSaveMe. And, of course, I do not own any of the Once Upon a Time characters nor Emma's pets names.

* * *

This one is for you, Sam :)

* * *

Emma sat in front of her roommate, Ruby, watching how she ate. Unlike Ruby, Emma had a day that came from hell. Working at a pet shelter was not easy, specially when you had to encounter arses that abandoned animals because they got bored of their pets. The blonde loved helping and taking care of the animals, it was the people that annoyed her. Generally speaking, she disliked people. They were all lying backstabbers that couldn't be trusted. Animals on the other hand were so loyal and amicable.

That's why she loved coming home after a long day at work. She shared a small apartment with Ruby in a peaceful neighbourhood and in a quiet building. Only old, boring people lived in this side of the town and she wouldn't want it any other way. No kids running on the upper floor, no babies crying across the street, just a warming evening when Emma got home, she would be greeted by her three dogs (Buddy, Marley and Toto), two cats (Felix and Crookshanks) and Ruby, who was pretty much the only human being that Emma trusted. Their home was her save haven.

That was, of course, until someone moved to the apartment below them. Someone Emma hadn't personally met -yet- she only knew her name from the mail box: Regina Mills. And Regina Mills currently was number 1 on Emma's hating list.

"Again?!" Emma hit the table annoyed. "What the fuck is she doing, drilling the whole apartment?"

"Emma, calm down," Ruby replied in a calmed tone "She just moved in,"

"She has being doing this the whole fucking week," the angry woman stood up. "I'm done with this shit, I'll tell her to stop."

The blonde knew that Ruby was speaking, trying to reason with her; but she deliberately decided to ignored her best friend's and she walked out of the apartment and into the hallway. Ever since their new neighbour and moved in she had been drilling. _Every day_. At all hours. At first she didn't care, because, everyone has stuff to hang up. Specially because Regina was probably some old lady that lived alone with her ten cats, just like most of the people that lived in the building, and didn't have anyone to help her with the things. But, come on! It had been one week, one _horrible_ week.

Emma started knocking the door and with no intentions on stopping. After a while, when her fingers started hurting, she changed hands and continued knocking with her other hand, it was taking Regina ages to come to the door, but Emma was determined on not stoping until her neighbour had the decency to appear. When finally someone opened the door, it happened so suddenly that Emma almost hit Regina.

"Are you crazy?" the person on the other side of the door frame asked.

"Yes," Emma replied annoyed "You drive me crazy."

"Excuse me?" the brunette looked confused.

Regina was nothing like Emma had pictured her. Of course she was a female - but she was no old lady, she was on her late twenties, maybe early thirties. Her skin looked silky smooth and her brunette hair was perfectly combed. She could have pursued a modelling career if it wouldn't be because of the small scar that she had on her upper lip - which, in Emma's opinion, made her even more sexy; it made her lips so inviting.

_Focus, Emma, Focus_. She snapped herself out of the thoughts she was having.

"With the drilling," the blonde explained.

She raised an eyebrow and placed her hand on the door knob. "I see,"

"No '_I see_'s," Emma spat angrily, "Stop it, it's already past 6 p.m."

"It might have slipped your mind, but I just moved in," Regina pointed out, "I'm hanging my paintings,"

"After a week? Did you steal the whole fucking Louvre before moving in?"

Regina suppressed a chuckle, she was too annoyed and proud to acknowledge that Emma actually had a sense of humour and she was not just the grumpy neighbour. Silently, the brunette rolled her eyes and closed the door, almost hitting Emma's nose with it and leaving the blonde with all her anger to herself.

Emma walked back home with her fists clenched and slammed the door behind her. Muttering to herself, she walked pass Ruby towards her room. Her friend followed her closely.

"I take it didn't go as planned?" Ruby chuckled from the room's door. The drilling had started once again - Emma damned the day that Regina moved into the apartment below them.

"That fucking bitch wants noise?" Emma took her drumsticks and walked towards the drums, "Then noise she' shall get,"

"Emma," her roommate walked towards the drum set. "We have other neighbours too, you know,"

"Sorry, can't hear you," Emma replied placing one hand behind her ear. Completely over exaggerating the sound made by the drilling and then started hitting the drum set she had in front of her.

If Emma couldn't find peace in her own house, neither would Regina.


	2. She didn't!

Wow! +20 follows, +5 reviews and +5 favourites with only one chapter? You guys are awesome!

This is a large chapter, specially compared to the first one. But this story is kind of "don't get mad, get even," (actually that was the original name), so I'll put something that Emma does to Regina, or Regina to Emma, in each chapter. Therefore the length of the chapter depends on how long does it take for them to get even at each other - if that makes sense to you.

I hope you guys enjoy it :)

* * *

Emma woke up with a horrible headache and to an empty apartment. Ruby was probably at work already. Even if her grandmother owned the place, Ruby wasn't allowed the be late. Granny had her in probation already because she missed two days, the old woman always said that no one received special treatment. It was like working at the army, but she was a fair woman. And she made the best lasagna on Storybrooke.

Scratching her head, Emma walked towards the fridge to found a note on it's door. '_We run out of milk. And coffee. We also need cereals, bread, butter and apples, and cat food.'. _Ruby had gone to the market last time, so it was her turn. She would go to the groceries after her shift at the shelter.

Before leaving her place she fed her pets and put on some fresh clothes, she also made sure to drink a pill to calm the headache. She had to find a way to put a stop to all the noise that the bitch that lives below them was making or she would end up going crazy and turning into a serial killer. That was what sleep depravation did to people: turn them into psychopaths.

After locking the door, she went down the stairs. Then she realised that the day could always be worse: her favourite neighbour was also leaving her apartment. Regina looked tired, but still managed to look breathtaking. Emma secretly envy her, the blonde wanted to be able to look like that after not getting much sleep. Then Emma noticed that the brunette had a chocolate bar - those with a bunch of calories - in her mouth.

"How can you have those for breakfast and look like that?" Emma asked, momentarily forgetting that she hated the woman that was in front of her.

Her neighbour turned to face Emma with an eyebrow raised. "This is not what I usually have for breakfast," she replied putting her keys inside her purse "I overslept because I was too tired, so I didn't have time to have proper breakfast," Regina replied

"Kinky," the blonde pointed out, "Was last night that good?" Emma asked with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, yes," the brunette said taking a step closer to the blonde woman, "I had so much fun - " she stared at Emma's lips, who stopped breathing "working until dawn because an idiot playing drums didn't let me work in peace,"

Emma raised an eyebrow, "you're a tease," then she smiled "maybe, if you wouldn't have drilled the whole evening, the idiot wouldn't have played the drums,"

Regina didn't reply anything. She didn't have any sassy comebacks - after all, Emma was probably right. The brunette turned on her heels and without waving goodbye, she left Emma alone.

* * *

Emma's day had passed by quicker than normal. No one had abandoned any pet today, and two couples adopted two cats, each. Overall, it had been a good day for Emma and the animals at the shelter. When the clock marked 6:00 p.m, the blonde counted the money on the cash machine and fed the animals. Then she was ready to go. On her way home she stopped on the grocery store, just as she had planned earlier that morning.

"Ew, Belle and Gold were kissing in front of the building," Emma commented as she dropped the bags on the kitchen table. "Seriously, how can she be with him? He's so creepy."

Ruby, who had been petting Felix, stood up and walked towards the kitchen to help Emma. "It's called love,"

"Right,_ love_," Emma buffed, "She's twenty-five and beautiful and he is fifty and rich," the blonde pointed out, "If she's in love with something, it's his wallet."

"Emma Swan! How can you say something like that?" Ruby looked shocked, "I've seen the way the look at each other, they are completely in love,"

"You are a helpless romantic," Emma pointed her with a french bread before she put it next to the toaster, "that's why you are single," _  
_

"And you don't even believe in love," Ruby said washing the apples, "and that's why you are single,"

"We are perfect for each other," the blonde smiled at her friend and put the cereal boxes on their place "Plus, I love being single,"

"That's the single people's excuse," her friend replied "Just wait until you fall in love,"

"Not going to happen," Emma saw that her friend was about to say something, but the blonde was saved by the bell. Someone had just rang the door. "I'll get it,"

With big steps, Emma walked towards the door, not because she was eager to see how dared to visit them on a wednesday night but to get away from Ruby. She was so annoying when they talked about love. On the other side of the door was Ruby's number one fan: Billy. Billy was a cool guy who worked as a mechanic and drove a tow truck. He was also madly in love with Ruby, although he was too shy to tell her and she was too stupid (according to Emma) to acknowledge it.

"Hey, Billy," Emma hugged him, "I'll get Ruby,"

"No, wait," Billy grabbed her by the wrist. Emma faced him with a raised eyebrow, "I'm so sorry, Emma. I didn't want to do it," he said, and Emma could see his eyes getting teary, "They made me do it, the city hall, I would have lost my job otherwise," the mechanic continued talking, which didn't make things clearer for Emma.

"I'm sorry, Billy," she placed a hand on his shoulder. "But what's wrong?"

He didn't say a word, he just handled her a sealed letter from the City Hall - from the department of transit, to be more precisely. Emma opened the letter and scanned it quickly; the words _Yellow Volkswagen_, _towed_ and _fee_ caught her attention.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me," she said looking at Billy.

"Are you angry at me?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"No, Billy," Emma replied shaking her head. She was angry at the stupid bitch that ordered the towing, "Come in, ask Ruby to give you a beer or something, I have to talk to someone,"

After letting Billy in the apartment and making sure that Ruby was taking care of their emotionally unstable friend, Emma closed the door behind her and ran down the stairs, jumping the last two steps. She stopped at the same door she had knocked last night and started knocking again, this time even faster, as if her life depended on it.

"Are you going to make a habit out of this?" The brunette asked when she realised how was knocking

"Where's my bug?" The blonde ask. The brunette arched an eyebrow, confused at the question. "My car - where is it?"

"Oh, the truck bringing my stuff needed a place to park, and since you were parked at the boarding area I called the city hall and got it towed,"

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"I believe it's 10 dollars for the service and 50 for the actual fee" Regina grinned. "Your turn," she said, as if they would be playing chess.

"Oh," if the blonde wouldn't have been able to control herself, she would have hit Regina's smirking face, "You want war? I'll give you war," she pointed at the older woman,


	3. Get even!

It took Emma two days to calm herself. Two _whole_ days to convince herself that she didn't have to get mad at Regina, she had to get even. Emma has spent all her savings to get the bug back. Bye-bye to that new drum set she wanted to buy. All because Regina had decided to be a bitch. She wanted war? Well, Emma was pretty good at holding a grudge, and even better at putting a fight. It definitely not nice to be on Emma's bad side. After deciding that she would get even, Emma spend countless hours in front of the computer, googling how to get back at annoying neighbours.

Regina needed to pay for her acts. And, thanks to Google, Emma was full of ideas. She just needed the perfect occasion to get back at the brunette that lived below her. And today, one week after Regina got Emma's car towed, was that day: the blonde and her roommate found themselves on the building's private parking. They were alone and there was a car they had never seen before; a car that, Emma knew for sure, belonged to Regina.

"That's her car," Emma pointed at a Mercedes that was park next to August's motorcycle.

August was like a brother to the girls, he was currently travelling through Latin America, so he had left his Harley Davidson in their parking spot. It was the main reason why Emma's bug was parked outside. Besides, the car didn't bother anyone - she had asked all her neighbours to make sure, and they had said that she could leave it parked there.

"How do you know?" Ruby asked.

"Well, Gold is the only one besides me that owns a car, and he drives a BMW," Emma explained, smiling at her luck. She then took out hair-clip that was holding her bangs up and pressed it against the car.

"Emma," Ruby grabbed the blonde's hand. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Emma gave a sudden jerk of her hand to be freed from her roommate's grip. No one would stop her from getting back at Regina. "I'm getting even," Ruby arched an eyebrow, "She fucking towed my car, Rubes! I had to pay 100$ for that."

"And that will be nothing compared to re-painting the car," Ruby pointed out.

"She drives a Mercedes, I bet she's rich," Emma spat, "She can afford the paint."

Nothing Ruby said would change Emma's plans: when the blonde set her mind on something, she went all the way to achieve it. So, Ruby decided to give up and disappear before things got ugly. She was no one's nanny, specially no one as hot-headed as Emma. The blonde didn't even notice that her friend was gone, and with the hair clip still pressed against her annoying neighbour's car she walked from the back of the car towards the front. Emma couldn't help but grinning as metal hair accessory scratched the painting, leaving a long line on the left side of the car.

Emma knew that revenge was not the solution, but why did it feel so good?

"What on earth are you doing?" A voice made Emma gave goosebumps. She turned to see her neighbour who was walking towards her with an angry face.

"This?" Emma asked pointing at the car with the clip she had just used to scratch it, "This is called _getting even_. You wanted to get to my bad side, now live with the consequences."

"You don't know what I'm capable of doing," she replied, her fists closed in a tight grip.

The blonde couldn't contain the grin on her face. She walked towards Regina, just leaving a few inches between them and repeated the words that Regina had said last time they met "Your turn,".

Emma stared at Regina's lips and then at her eyes before dropping the hair clip. The sound of the clip impacting the floor was Emma's cue to leave the scene. The blonde walked away with the grin still on her face, leaving behind a speechless and angry Regina - it made her day.


	4. Cold Shower!

Guys, you rock! All those follows, favs, reviews...? you are amazing!

I know I just updated, but I'm waiting for the super bowl to start and if I don't do something with my life while I wait, I'll bore to death. I'm not American, but I've watched this game since I can remember (my dad is a huge wanna-be-American and it seems like I inherited that :P)

Hope you like this one!

Go, Broncos!

* * *

It was not the first time that Black Bears, Maine's University football team, made it to the finals on their category, but it was the first time that they were fighting for the gold in their hometown. It was not the Super Bowl, but it was good enough for the people of the state. It had been a huge public party when the state's team made it to the finals, specially because the match was taking place on Maine and they were against their eternal rival: The New Hampshire Wildcats.

Almost everyone that lived in the state had tickets to see the game, Emma and Ruby were on that group. Wearing the navy blue team hoodie and carrying food and drinks, the two girls made their way to two empty seats on the bottom of the bleachers. The blonde was looking around to spot familiar faces when she saw who was couple of rows above them.

"Oh, my God!" Emma exclaimed pinching Ruby's arm.

"Oi!" She exclaimed, rubbing her arms. "What was that for?"

"She's here," Emma was still looking up.

"Who's here?" Ruby looked up, a little bit annoyed at Emma.

"Our lovely neighbor,"

"Oh!" Ruby said more excitedly. "Where?"

Ruby had never seen the neighbor, she just knew Regina from Emma's stories and was eager to meet the only person that seemed to be a decent match to Emma's fits and outbursts.

"See that guy that looks like a pirate?" Emma pointed at a tall dark haired man. Ruby nodded. "The girl next to him,"

"Brunette chick?" Emma nodded. "Who on their right minds wear silk for a baseball match?"

"Only freaks like her, that's who" the blonde replied. "I wonder if that's her boyfriend," she thought out-loud.

Just the thinking about them kissing made Emma's stomach turn in disgust. No, he couldn't be her boyfriend, he wasn't her type. Then again, how could Emma really know what Regina's type was? She basically didn't know anything about Regina - other than the fact that she now rode a scratched car -, the only few times they had talked things got ugly. But something just told Emma that she was too good for him.

"Emma, please," Ruby looked into the blonde's eyes. "Let it go and enjoy the game,"

"I'll behave if she behaves," Emma replied.

"She doesn't even know that we are here," Ruby stated "So, stop staring," she added in a warning tone.

Emma nodded and shifted her gaze to Regina one last time. But this time, Regina was not looking towards the field, she was looking right straight into Emma's eyes. A small grin appeared on her face, it made the blonde's throat dry. Emma looked away, but she knew it was too late, Regina had spotted her and something bad was about to happen.

Maine's Black Bears won, but Emma didn't enjoy the game nor felt like celebrating the victory. She had been constantly turning to see if Regina was still watching the game and not planning something to get back at her. And now she was still in danger. The blonde wouldn't feel save until she got home. She was a little bit scared, but mostly she was annoyed by the uncertainty: she hated surprises. The game was a perfect opportunity for Regina to get back at her, Emma would definitely do something if it would be up to her. That's why she was a little bit disappointed when the match finished and Regina didn't even try to do something.

"Did you enjoy the game?" Ruby asked her. Emma nodded, almost by instinct. "You were staring at Regina half of the game. You are paranoid"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are," the other woman argued "that's what you get when you are have a guilty conscience,"

Ruby laughed at Emma's face, and the sound made Emma relax a little bit. Soon the blonde started chatting with less stress with her friend and stopped watching her back. Maybe she had overestimated Regina.

The two friends excited Maine's small stadium singing songs, cheering for their team when Emma felt a liquid washing her from top to bottom. She stood on the spot: someone had thrown her something extremely cold from above. It was the water with ice where the sodas were stored during the match. The blonde let a small "Ah," out before Ruby started laughing out loud and pointing at her.

Emma ignored her friend and looked up, to the place where someone had thrown the freezing water to her. There she saw Regina and her pirate-looking friend smiling at her. The brunette even waved from the top of the bleachers.

"Damn you, Regina Mills," Emma muttered as she walked away, completely soaked, with her best friend laughing uncontrollably. "This is not over,"


	5. A Knight?

Ok, so let's see if Emma and Regina had another side to the _biatches_ they are being. Let me know if it's Yay or Nay!

Other than that, thank you again for the awesome support!

Hugs,

M.

* * *

Emma sat on the emergency stairs and stared at the horizon as the last rays of sun shined through Storybrooke's buildings. She couldn't believe that the pet shelter's manager had fired her. She was the best employee, not to praise herself - but she was the only one that genuinely cared about the animals. So what if she _accidentally_ forgot to switch the radiators off? She saved the animals for God's sake! She always found the poor pets trembling due to the cold temperatures when she opened the shelter every morning. So what if they had to pay some extra bucks? It was better than leaving an animal to freeze to dead.

If _any_ animal died, she'd sue the shelter.

She blinked and tried to think on something other than animals dying. What on Earth was Regina watching on the TV? How didn't she go crazy with all that screaming? She probably was used to noise with all the drilling she had done when she first moved in. Thank God the brunette had stopped hanging an exposition as big as the fucking Smithsonian, at least now Emma had some peace.

Emma decided to pay more attention and see if she could guess the movie or TV show that Regina was watching, she didn't like dramatic movies but the idea of being spying on Regina was thrilling. Once Emma decided to actually listen to it, the dialog between the two screaming people became more clear to her and she could start understanding what was the fight about

"You don't understand," a voice that belonged to a man said. "We needed a break - but now, now I _know_ I love you,"

Dude, that was such a pathetic excuse, even for a Hollywood Drama. Emma really hoped the female didn't fall for that or she would lose faith on her gender, and human race in general because someone had to read and approve that script.

"Now, after you cheated on me and left me with nothing but a broken heart you have decided that you love me?" a very familiar female voice replied.

Emma's heart stopped, it was not _just_ a familiar voice. It was Regina's: she was not watching a movie, she was having an actual argument. The blonde decided to pry and go down the stairs to see what was really happening on the apartment below hers. Emma remembered the football game couple of days ago, Regina was with a dark-haired guy. Maybe he was the one fighting with Regina? She watched through the window and continued hearing their conversation.

The blonde managed to see the guy's face, but he was not the same guy that had helped Regina to throw the bucked of icy water at her. This guy was a bit shorter and more muscular.

"Or did you get bored with her just as you got bored with me?" Emma heard her neighbor said. "Just leave me alone, Daniel,"

"Gina," the guy named Daniel said and walked towards her, "Please, Gina," Regina walked backwards, but he continued walking forwards, trying to short the distance between them.

Emma hated Regina; but anyone, not even someone like her, deserved to be in a situation like this one. Plus, there's only one person that gets to make Regina suffer, and that person was Emma Swan, no one else. So, in a wanna-be-superhero rush, Emma entered to Regina's apartment through the window that she had used to spy on her neighbour.

"Hey, babe," the blonde said casually as she closed the window behind her, "I was wondering if you have - oh, you have visits," she added innocently, pretending she hadn't realized that a Regina was with someone.

"Emma?" Regina looked at her with a surprised expression on her face.

Emma pretended that it was normal for her to be in Regina's apartment, and she hope that Regina would play along. The blonde walked towards the kitchen while she repeated what she was saying before, "I was wondering if you have any those chocolate bars that you give me for breakfast when we don't have time to properly eat - you know, after all the night of fun we have," Emma winked, making obvious what they allegedly did, "You store them here, right?" the blonde pointed at a cabinet and Regina nodded. Emma took one of the chocolate bars and started eating it.

"I thought you were at work." Regina commented, still perplexed at Emma's unexpected, and surprisingly not-revengeful, visit. The blonde looked at her, shocked that Regina knew her working schedule. So, Regina had been stalking her? Just the idea of it amused her.

"Yeah," she shrugged, "I got fired today," the was no point on lying.

"You - you got fired?" the brunette sounded almost shocked, as if she thought that Emma was the employee of the month. Well, at least she _was_ playing along and acting like a caring girlfriend.

"Yeah," Emma said as she dropped her body on the sofa and placed her feet over the table, she could see how it annoyed Regina, which made her feel even better. "I was on the field - you know, finding homeless animals to take to the shelter, when found I this asshole suffocating a kitten, so I jumped over him and started hitting him," Emma decided to spice _a little bit_ the original story, and the look at the Daniel's face made it totally worth it. "He finished at the hospital, and I got fired,"

"You sent someone to the hospital just because he was suffocating a cat?" Daniel asked, his eyes wide open

Emma chewed slowly, not breaking eye contact with the man, and after swallowing the piece of the chocolate bar that she had in her mouth, she shrugged and said "What can I say? I tent to do that with people that threatens something I care about," the younger woman tried to make it sound like a hint. She probably succeeded because Daniel looked at Emma as if she was some kind of crazy sociopath, which wouldn't be a complete lie if he would hear Regina's stories.

"I'll call you later, Gina," he said after an awkward moment of silence and walked out of Regina's apartment.

Her "Don't bother," was not heard by the man, who left without saying anything else.

"What a douche," Emma commented. "You sure know how to pick 'em, _Gina_."

"Don't call me like that," Regina pushed Emma's legs off the table. "What are you doing?"

"Eating one of your bars," the blonde replied "These are actually pretty good,"

"I meant in my apartment,"

"Oh, that - I came to save you," the blonde explained as if she had just cut a hand off or walked through a volcano for Regina "I ain't no knight on a shiny armour, but I do know how to save a damsel in distress,"

"I see, Prince Charming complex," Regina sat in front of Emma "Which brings me to my next question," she pursed her lips into a deadly serious half-smile. "Where you spying on me?" She asked in a tone that almost sounded amused.

"It's hardly called spying when I can hear it from my living room," Emma replied "What I said, it was true though," the younger woman finished the bar and left the empty paper over the table. "I don't like people threatening my things,"

"I am not a thing, Miss Swan," she annoyed, "And definitely not _yours_,"

"Whatever," Emma stood from the sofa and exited through the window, "A simple thanks would have been more than enough, though,"

Emma started climbing the stairs when she heard her last-name. She turned her face to see Regina, peeking out of the window through which Emma had just exited. "Thank you," she said from there.

"You owe me one," the blonde replied, nonchalantly.

"Then we can go to our regular hate-hate relationship?" Emma smirked at Regina's question.

"Aye,"

Regina nodded and tried to fight her lips, but a smile appeared on her face. Regina would never expect that her annoying, childish and insufferable neighbour would stand up for her, let alone protect her from someone. The brunette knew that Daniel wouldn't physically harm her, but it felt good to know that someone has your back. She shook her head to make the thoughts go away. Few days ago they had been The Soviets and The Americans during the Cold War, and now she had run to her rescue. Emma Swan was a complete mystery, a mystery that Regina was willing to solve.

After closing the window, the brunette grabbed her phone and dialled a number. Drumming her fingers against the table, she waited for someone to pick up, "Yes?" Regina heard on the other side of the line.

"This is Regina Mills,"

"Miss Mills, what a surprise!" the voice said "What can I do to help you?"

"I need you to find out why a woman called Emma Swan was fired from the pet shelter,"

The person on the other side of the line muttered Regina's request in a slower rate - he was probably writing it down. "Anything else?"

"Yes, if you find something suspicious, call Graham," Regina replied. "And Sydney," she added before he could hang up, "Not a word of this is printed on the news papers,"

"But -"

"Not a word," she interrupted the man, "Did I made myself clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am,"

"Good," Regina hung up. "Now go and get your work done,"

Emma was the worst neighbour that Regina could have ever wished for, but she knew that the blonde cared for the animals. As part of her job down at the City Hall, Regina had to check the public service's budget and inventory. She knew that Emma had found homes for more than half of the animals that were rescued by the shelter; furthermore, the amount of animals on the streets had decreased since the blonde started working on the shelter. That's why she didn't understand why the manager had fired Emma and she was determined to discover it. And after that, her debt with Emma would be repaid and they could go back to hating each other. This friendly relationship they had definitely felt weird.


	6. Are we even?

Wow, great feedback :) Another nice-neighbourly behaviour before we get down to business. But don't worry, things will start to change. They'll find other ways to punish each other soon.

On another note. Anyone wants me to pair Ruby with someone? let me know whether you want or not and if you do, with whom. It can be anyone :) except Regina or Emma because I'm not into promiscuity ;) :P

Last but not least, I am considering on changing this from T to M, is everyone ok with it? I'm probably not going to write anything graphic, but I rather have the freedom to write what I want and how I want without being "caged" by an age category.

Hugs,

M.

* * *

It had been a tough day for the girl, she had gone to her parents' house to ask for some money to pay her bills while she found a new job. Ruby had told her there was no need for that, that she could cover for both of them for some time. But Emma knew that it was neither fair nor nice to take her friend's money, after all, Ruby was as broke as Emma.

Emma parents didn't take the news easily, ever since Emma dropped out of college they had been getting on her nerves, saying that she needed to finish something - it didn't matter what, as long as she had a title. But what if she didn't know what she wanted to study? what she wanted to become? She loved animals, but she didn't want to be a veterinary. She loved working with people, but she didn't want to be a sales person. It was not as easy as people thought. At the end, Emma's parents had agreed on giving her money, she didn't even have to pay it back, but she had to promise that she would go to college if she didn't find a job before summer.

Emma dragged her feet down the hallway and stopped in front of her apartment's door when she heard giggles coming out of her house. Ruby had guests? That was unlikely. The blonde prayed for it to be the TV or Ruby laughing by herself, she was in no mood to have people over. She opened the door and entered to her apartment with no will, she felt so defeated for some unknown reason - it was one of those days when you just wanted to climb onto your bed and sleep and die.

She bend a little bit to pet Buddy, who had come to greet her. "Where's my favourite boy?" Emma said repeatedly and kneeled to play with the Rhodesian Ridgeback's ears. Buddy always knew how to cheer her up.

"Emma," she heard Ruby's voice calling her name. She raised her head to meet with Ruby's guest eyes staring at her. Her stomach shrunk when she realised it was no other person than the bitch that lived below them.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Emma asked Ruby and stopped petting the dog.

"Well, Regina's apartment is flooded with water," Ruby started explaining, "The plumber can't understand why the pipes just broke,"

"Yeah," Regina commented. "_Just_ broke," she remarked, obviously implying that Emma had to do something with it.

"Trust me, if I'd have something to do with breaking pipes, I'd have hit the gas tube, and you would be probably dead by now," Emma replied coldly, she was in no mood to take shit from anyone, "Don't you have any friends or family? Somewhere were people actually wouldn't mind to have you over?"

"Emma!" her roommate exclaimed. "That's not a nice thing to say. And it's nearly midnight, Regina can't just go to someone's house at this some,"

Emma arched an eyebrow. _'Yeah, that's why she's here,_' she thought. The blonde was still kneeling next to Buddy, petting the animal "She can't sleep here, we don't have space," the blonde insisted, trying to get rid of their neighbour. The problem was that Ruby was too nice to kick someone out of their apartment.

"She's sleeping on the couch,"

"What? No!" Emma stood up and walked towards her roommate, the dog walked next to her, licking Emma's hand. "That's where Buddy sleeps!"

"Well, Buddy will have to sleep on the floor tonight," Ruby explained.

Emma pretended to be shocked and turned to her dog. "Did you hear that, Buddy?" she asked her pet "Ruby's putting you to sleep on the floor, as if you would be some kind of _dog,_" the blonde commented while she kneeled and pet the dog.

Ruby rolled her eyes but Regina watched the interaction between dog and owner with a smile on her face. Regina knew that her neighbour liked animals, but seeing her interact with them was sweet, almost endearing.

"But you are no _dog_, right, Buddy?" she spoke to the dog, playing with Buddy's ears. "You'll sleep with me tonight. Beside, someone has to watch my back, she might stab me while I sleep,"

The smile disappeared from Regina's face: Emma had ruined the moment.

Emma's ringtone broke the tense silence that reigned the living room. She took her phone out and read the caller ID: _Pet Shelter_. The blonde looked at the screen with a confused look. What did they want now? Charge her for the extra heat she had spent? She was not paying for that, and they couldn't fire her again.

"I have to take this one," Emma said standing up and exiting the apartment through the window. "Yes?"

"Emma Swan?" a man, that was definitely not her boss, asked.

"Yes, this is her,"

"My name is Graham Humbert," he introduced himself, "I'm the town's sheriff,"

Emma panicked a little bit, had the manager called the sheriff? She couldn't afford to go to jail, her parents would kill her. "What can I do to help you?" Emma asked trying to sound calmed.

"It was brought to my attention that the pet shelter manager was neglecting the animals that he was supposed to take care of," he explained. So, this call wasn't to bring Emma to justice? She exhaled, completely relaxed now. "Upon an investigation conducted by myself, the City Hall has decided to fire the manager and appoint you as the new manager,"

Wait._ She_, Emma Swan, was the new manager? Someone had to be messing around with her. "Ok, is this some kind of joke?"

"Hardly, Miss Swan," the sheriff replied. "Maybe there is someone down at the City Hall that watches over you, or the animals. Anyway, you start tomorrow. Good evening, Miss Swan,"

"Good evening," Emma replied absently, staring at the two women that were talking in her living room. There was only one person that Emma knew that could get things done by calling the City Hall: Regina Mills.

But why would Regina do something nice to her? The thought hit Emma like a lighting, Regina owed her one from the time Emma had saved her from that Daniel douche guy. That had been almost a week ago, she couldn't believe that Regina actually went out of her way to do something nice for Emma. Unless...

Unless Regina was not doing something nice for her, unless her neighbour just wanted her to mess things up so badly that would result on the closing of the shelter. Forever. The blonde shook her head, Regina was a bitch, but she was not heartless, she wouldn't leave so many animals without a roof over their heads and starving to death. Right?

Emma looked inside again, Ruby was still talking to Regina and she didn't feel like joining the conversation. So, she jumped over the emergency exit's fence and walked carefully on the sill until she reached her room's window. It was not a long distance from the living room's window, nor it was a big fall. And Emma had done it a lot of time to avoid visits. Like the times when August invited his buddy Neal. Without making any sound, Emma closed the window and laid on her bed. She couldn't count to three before she was asleep.

* * *

When the blonde woke up it was still dark on the outside. Emma was not a morning person, but she was starving and her stomach wouldn't let her sleep. She checked the time on her phone, it was past 4 a.m.

Emma walked towards the kitchen, passing by the living room; where Regina was sleeping. The brunette was sitting on the floor and had her head rested on the living room's tea table. Her laptop was still on, she must have fallen asleep while working. The blonde didn't want to move Regina because she didn't want to wake her up, so she just closed the laptop and wrapped the woman's shoulder and back with a blanket. Then she continued on her quest for food.

To Emma's surprise, Ruby had brought Granny's chocolate pie. It was Emma's favourite dessert. She could eat it all the time. The blonde took the cake out and placed it on the table. Then she returned to the fridge to get some milk. It was then when she heard something.

"Are you seriously eating at this hour?"

Emma jolted and dropped the milk carton. "Fuck, Regina," she said angrily, "Now I have to clean this, and we are out of milk for our morning coffee," she stated "Do you know how cranky I get when I don't have my morning coffee?"

"More than your usual cranky self?" the brunette teased her and took napkin to help Emma.

Emma rolled her eyes and they both continued to clean the split milk in silence.

"Where you out all this time?" Regina asked after a while. Probably to start some small talk.

"What do you care?" The blonde replied, placing her hand where the milk had been to see if it was sticky. Luckily, it was not.

"I was waiting for you," she answered. Her words took Emma by surprise. So that was why Regina had fallen asleep while she was working, she had been waiting for Emma to come back.

"I can enter my room from the stairs," Emma gave a quick explanation.

"Is it a habit to use windows instead of doors?"

"It makes me feel like Peter Pan," Emma commented, her voice tinted with sarcasm. "Your friend Graham called me,"

"He's not my friend,"

"Lover, maybe?"

"Would it make you jealous is I'd say yes?" Regina asked with a teasing smile.

Emma didn't answer that question. Mostly because she didn't know how, her brain wanted to say that she wouldn't be jealous but her heart thought otherwise. The blonde, however, decide to reply with another question "Are you hitting on me?"

"Me? Hitting on the bitch that lives above me?" she inquired, pretending to be shocked "Never," Regina meant it as a joke, but it didn't sound that way for the blonde. Regina's words hurt Emma. Not because she had insulted her, but because Regina had said she'd never hit on Emma.

"Well, then," Emma stood up and threw away the wet napkins. "Good night, Miss Mills,"

"Aren't you going to eat that?"

Emma returned the cake into the fridge. "Not hungry anymore," it was not a lie.

Regina saw as Emma walked into her room and close the door behind. The brunette couldn't help but wonder: had she said something wrong?


	7. You're drunk!

Thank you for all the feedback, you guys are awesome. Also, I'll change this fic to M when I update next time. I won't be writing anything graphic, not any type soon, but as I said, I rather be save than sorry.

On another note, I'm travelling on thursday to meet my family, I'll be with them until the 21st and I don't know when will I'll be able to update. I'll try but I don't promise anything.

Hugs!

M.

* * *

Her day at the pet shelter had been more than perfect. Everything was so much better when everyone did as she said - no wonder Regina loved giving orders. She was jogging up to her apartment when the sound a glass breaking made her stop abruptly. She tried to determined where the sound had come from. I was, with no doubt from Regina's apartment.

With a confused look on her face, Emma walked down the stairs and towards Regina's door. The blonde had an inner argument, a part of her told her to go away and leave Regina alone, the other part told her to check on her neighbour. Shushing the voices on her head, Emma knocked twice before saying loudly "Regina, is everything alright?" The lack of response made Emma get a little bit nervous, so she knocked again. "Regina, this is not funny, open the door,"

"Why, but if it isn't any other person than my knight in shiny armour," Regina said, she had been drinking. She was not drunk, but she was definitely not her normal self either. "Everything is alright, a vase fell from my hands,"

Emma arched an eyebrow, not believing for a second Regina's story. So she let herself into Regina's apartment and searched with her gaze around her apartment. Regina was alone; and something, indeed, had broken. Well, not_ broken_, more like crashed - thrown against a wall.

"Are you sure you are ok?" Emma asked genuinely worried looking at the pieces of the glass that were on the floor.

"Aw," Regina walked towards her, "You _are_ worried about me!"

"No," the blonde replied almost defensively "I just don't trust the words of a drunken woman,"

"I didn't drink _that _much," Regina objected.

"Oh, really?" Emma inquired as she walked towards her neighbour, "You were flirting with me, Regina,"

"Maybe I want to flirt with you, even when I didn't have a drink,"

Emma stared at Regina, who was few inches away from her, she wondered if Regina was really telling her truth, or if it was the alcohol speaking, or if she was simply teasing her. When it came to Regina, every option should be taken in to account. The blonde stayed in silence for a while, and Regina didn't say anything either - they just stared at each other. Emma could feel how the tension grow with every second that she didn't move away from Regina and out of the apartment. She needed to go going before she did something stupid, something she'd regret later.

"Please ,don't leave," Regina said grabbing Emma by the wrist when she started walking towards the door. The blonde turned on her heels and stared at her. "I - I just need someone by my side, I promise I'll keep quiet if you feel uncomfortable with what I'm saying,"

Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head. Regina was definitely her weakness. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Emma crossed her arms.

"You wouldn't understand,"

"Try me,"

Regina's eyes carried so much pain and sorrow in them, it ache Emma's heart "After working so hard to get the promotion, the mayor gave it to someone else,"

Emma knew Regina had worked too much, the brunette had even pulled all-nighters to get all the work done in time. "Yeah, that kinda sucks," she placed a hand on Regina's shoulder "If it makes you feel better, the mayor is a bitch. Someone probably slept with her to get that promotion,"

Cora Mills was Storybrooke's mayor. She was also a homophobe that lead the movement against the town's LGBT people. Cora hated everyone not only homosexuals, she had closed Storybrooke's church and mosque, she almost deported Belle and Geppetto because they were not American and she had a huge campaign against asian and african people. How she got elected was a mystery that Emma never understood.

"She's my mother,"

"The mayor?" Emma asked in shock. Regina nodded. "She's _your_ mother?" The shocking news were hard to digest, Regina nodded once again. Cora _Mills_, of course, how didn't she make that relation before? She felt so stupid now, "Well, now I know where you get your bitchiness from."

Regina chuckled softly at Emma's comment.

"That's not a compliment,"

"I know," Regina replied with a smile on her face. "But only you could make a remark like that,"

There was an awkward silence after that. Both of them remembering last night's events.

"I never got to thank you for giving me my job back," Emma said, studying her hands. "I guess we are even now,"

"I did it for the animals," Emma raised her gaze to meet with Regina's "I'm just glad they have someone like you to take care of them. Yes, I know all you have done for them, I work on the city hall, remember?"

"And you have a heart," the blonde smiled

"You sound surprised," Regina said pouring a liquor on a glass and walking towards the sofa, where she sat. The blonde sat next to Regina and put her legs above the table again, this time Regina didn't seem to mind this time.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Regina nodded, but she looked sad. "Do you need a hug?"

"I don't do hugs, Miss Swan," she replied dryly.

Emma shifted her body to face Regina "Everyone does hugs," she said sliding her arms around Regina's shoulder and, without Regina's consent, Emma pulled the brunette close to her, "Hugs are good for you,"

"Says who?" Regina said to Emma's ear. It was just because of their positions, but it still sent chills down Emma's spine.

"Research," Emma replied. "I can google it and put it in charts if your OCD brain needs to process information like that," she teased the brunette.

At first Regina didn't hug back, but Emma didn't go of her. Eventually the brunette wrapped her arms around her blonde neighbour and hugged her back. Feeling Emma's warmth against her body, it was comforting. She exhaled, and felt like all her worries left her body with that breath.

"What am I going to do now?" she asked.

"Well, now you're going to get some sleep," Emma replied. "And tomorrow we'll worry about the future,"

"We?" Regina wanted to sound confused, but hope could be heard on her voice.

The blonde let go of Regina "Let's get you to bed," she said, not answering Regina's question.

Even though Regina could walk perfectly fine, Emma wrapped an arm around Regina's back to help her get to bed. It felt good, and the blonde didn't want to let go. She knew that this sweet Regina was probably a product of the alcohol that the brunette had ingested, she also knew that it would be the only time to have Regina so close to her. And she didn't want to miss a thing. She wasn't taking advantage of Regina's state, she was just enjoying it while it lasted.

With Emma's help, Regina climbed on to her bed and took her shoes off. "Emma," the brunette said as she covered her legs with a blanket, "Thank you,"

The blonde shrugged, "I guess you like to owe me," she sat on the edge of Regina's bed.

Regina laughed, "There are worst people to be in debt with," The brunette laid on her side and stared at Emma. "Will you stay?" she whispered and grabbed Emma's hand, her request made Emma's heart skip a beat, even if she knew that what Regina meant was not the same that Emma wanted it to mean.

Emma nodded and gently brushed a lock of hair from Regina's face and watched as Regina fell asleep. When the brunette was asleep, Emma set her hand free and stood up. Resisting the urge of kissing Regina's forehead, because that would have been weird, and creepy, she walked away from where Regina rested and stared at the broken glass. Someone had to clean that.

She rolled her eyes, walked towards the kitchen and grabbed a broom. _Damn it_. When had she started to care about people? She never cared about anyone but Ruby or August, and maybe her parents. So, where was all this willingness to help Regina coming from? Did she care about Regina? She thought about it for a while. No, she didn't care about Regina. Regina drove her crazy. Every day and every night. Regina stole her peace, her neighbourhood, got the bug towed, turned over her a bucket of cold water. Emma definitely didn't care about Regina. She hated her.

When Emma finally cleaned Regina's mess she grabbed her jacket and headed home.

"Emma Swan!" Ruby screamed from the sofa, it make Emma jerk and drop her keys "Coming home at this ungodly hour? Where were you?"

"I was at Regina's," she replied picking up her keys and throwing them on the kitchen table. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and drank from it while she walked towards the living room and sat in front of Ruby.

Ruby's face had lost its colour, "Please, tell me she's alive," she said, almost in a whisper.

"Of course she's alive," Emma drank another slip of water and remembered the warmth of the hug she and Regina had shared minutes ago. With out thinking about it, Emma bit her lower lip.

"Oh, my god!" Ruby captured Emma's attention. The blonde released the lip she was biting. "You like her,"

"I do not," she replied offended.

"You do," the brunette teased her with a huge grin on her face. "Oh, Emma, you have finally found someone to love,"

"Wait, what?" Emma stood up in shock "I do no like Regina and I certainly will never love her,"

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "Keep thinking like that, and you'll end up alone, Emma," she said as she stood up and walked towards her room. "Good night,"


	8. Friends?

Hey guys, I managed to write this while my cousins were at school - not that you really care :P Anyways, I'm still not home so I don't know when I'll be able to update.

Also, as some of you might know, I'm originally from Venezuela. And things in my country are pretty rough right now, so if any of you guys are religious, please keep my country in your prayers. I still have family living there and it would really mean the world to me that 'strangers' care.

Other than that, thanks for your support! - almost 100 followers (wow!)

Hugs,

Mara

* * *

Emma Swan enjoyed surprises, except when it was her parents paying an unannounced visit. That pretty much ruined her day, and possibly week. It was not that she hated her parents, or that she didn't want them on her life. But their relation was currently on a very fragile state, and everything they said or did made Emma jumpy. At least she had Ruby, her parents have always loved Ruby. As a kid, Emma thought that they would have prefer to have Ruby as their daughter - now that only happened sometimes. Like today. So, when her parents were too busy listening to Ruby's story, Emma made a quick escape through the window and sat on the emergency stairs.

"Are you spying on me again?" Regina asked Emma from her window.

"Not everything I do circles around you, Regina," she replied annoyed.

"Wow, someone's even crankier today," the brunette stated before exiting through the window, which was kind of sexy. Emma wondered if she looked liked that when she exited through the window, probably not - Regina did everything sexier than the rest of the world's population. "What's wrong?" the brunette sat next to Emma.

"My parents came to visit," Emma explained.

"I take it you are not happy with them visiting?"

"It's just -" the blonde trailed off, "They want me to finish college and get a degree, and every time they come there is a huge fight because of that,"

"Parents..." she muttered.

Emma remember the last time she had been with Regina - the day when Regina's mother gave the promotion that Regina deserved to another person. It made her realise that she could have even worse parents. If Emma would decide to work with her father or mother, they wouldn't doubt on giving her the credit she deserved and more, she knew that. They had always dreamed on the day that Emma took over the family business, but Emma didn't want to be her parents' copy and follow their steps, she wanted to do something on her own, she just needed to find out what.

"Want some?" Emma offered the food that was on her hand to the brunette.

"What's that?" Regina checked the package.

"Pasta noodles,"

"_Uncooked_ pasta noodles," Regina corrected.

"They are tasty," Emma shrugged and bit some, "The best ones are the ones for lasagna,"

"You are weird,"

"So I've been told," they both smiled.

"So, you just left your parents alone at your apartment?" the brunette asked after a while.

"Oh, no," Emma chewed the pieces of noodles, "They are with Ruby, they love Ruby - which comes in handy sometimes,"

They stayed in silence for a while. Partially because Emma didn't know what to talk about, and neither did Regina. But they both enjoyed the quietude, it was comforting. The silence was broken by a voice calling Emma's name, it was the blonde's mother's voice, but Emma didn't even flinch at the shout.

"Someone is calling you," Regina pointed out after a while.

Emma sighed "Yeah, I should probably go," the blonde replied before standing up, "Coming!" she screamed and started walking up stairs when Regina called her name.

"Miss Swan," Emma turned to face the brunette, "I guess you have no idea of who vandalised my mother's car?" she asked, but her lips pursed into a smile.

The blonde smiled back at her, "No, I don't."

"Good," Regina stood up and cleaned her skinny slacks pants, "Then I guess that it shouldn't worry you that Sheriff Graham decided to put a stop to the car vandal that has terrorised the good people of Storybrooke,"

"I'm guessing the vandal is safe - since neither you nor your mother are not part of that group,"

"Don't do anything stupid, Emma," Regina warned her. "I did not press charges, but don't think my mother won't hesitate on destroying you and everything and everyone you care about,"

"Is that concern I detect in your voice, Miss Mills?" Emma teased her and walked down, "If it makes _you_ feel better," she added when she was just one step above Regina, "I won't do anything stupid until Graham drops the investigations," the blonde brushed one of Regina's locks and left her hand behind the brunette's ears. She licked her lips, wondering what would happen if she would pull Regina into a kiss. It was not like it could ruin her friendship, since they were not friends.

Regina's eyes shifted from the blonde's eyes to her lips, then again up to her eyes. The brunette gulped. She wanted to close the distance between Emma's bodies and hers, but she was so afraid to do so. Regina wasn't a woman who got easily scared, but she liked the strange relationship she had with Emma, and she didn't want it to go to waste. Had she started to care about the annoying neighbour? The girl who had as a hobby to get on her nerves? She couldn't know, but she knew that she liked being around Emma; because even if Emma drove her crazy, she went to extra mile to protect her. Plus, an interesting person to talk to and the girl was a loyal friend._ Friend?_

"Good night, Regina," Regina heard Emma say. She blinked twice before she realised that the blonde had already climbed the stairs and entered to her apartment.

"Good night, Emma," she mumbled and entered through her own window, asking to herself what would it feel like to be kissed by Emma Swan.


	9. Buuuuuurn

Emma was overloaded with the house chores: feed the pets, take the dogs for a walk, clean the apartment, wash the windows, do the groceries, etc. Ruby had gone with her family on a family trip and she wouldn't be home for two weeks, so Emma had to take care of all the chores that they usually shared. In fact, the blonde didn't realize how much it had to be done until Ruby was gone.

"Food!" Emma yelled at the animals and placed their plates on the ground. All her pets came quickly to eat, it was the only command they followed. Not that Emma really cared, they were well-behaved animals, she didn't need a pet that could spin when he was told so, she just needed a potty-trained one. That was enough for her.

The blonde pet one of her dogs and returned to the kitchen. The water was boiling. She was making chamomile to damped her hair with - it was her secret to keep up the blonde color that she was born with. The plastic jar that she usually used was already dirty, so without giving it a second thought, she grabbed a glass pitcher and started pouring the water in it.

It all happened to fast for her instincts to kick in. As the glass jar was almost filled with the boiling liquid, it exploded in 100 pieces. "Shit," Emma said as put the pot on the kitchen stove and checked if she had cut herself with the glass.

Then she felt it, the boiling water burning her skin. "Shit!" this time she said it louder and with more emotion, "Mother fuuu!" watching her step, she exited the kitchen and took her pants off. It hurt like hell. She wanted to touch her legs, but she was afraid of doing so. "Oh, my god, it hurts! So bad!" she yelled to no one. Tears running down her cheeks. "God, damn it!"

Her pets stopped eating and walked towards her. What should she do now? Ruby was miles away. Who would she call someone and ask for help? She could barely walk, she would never be able to clean the kitchen like this and her pets could step on a piece of glass.

_Belle_. Belle was always on her apartment. With out putting pants on and struggling to walk, Emma made her way out of the apartment.

"Belle!" the blonde yelled towards the upper floor "Please!" she managed to say between sobs "I need you, it's an emergency!"

No one replied from the upper floor, but Emma heard someone running up the stairs, and then she saw Regina carrying two bags of groceries "What's wrong?" Regina asked ignoring the fact that Emma was in underwear.

"The jar exploded," Emma sobbed. "It hurts like hell!" she didn't point to her legs for Regina to understand what hurt, they were already red.

"Oh, God!" Regina rushed towards Emma. "Did you burned yourself with water?" Emma nodded.

Regina helped the blonde into the apparent and told Emma to sit, the brunette dropped the groceries bags next to the blonde. Then Regina started to check Emma's skin. If it wouldn't have been for the intense pain that Emma was feeling, she would have made a joke about their positions. But she was in such distress, her brain didn't work properly.

"You have blisters," Regina pointed out "Bigger than 3 inches, I have to take you to the hospital,"

"No," Emma shook her head and tried to stand up "I need to clean first,"

Regina pushed Emma back towards the sofa "No, we are going to the hospital now," she repeated.

"My pets," Emma cleaning the tears from her eyes "they can get cut,"

Regina rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said "I'll clean, you go and put some pants on," Emma nodded and walked towards her room, as fast as her injured legs allowed her to.

Finding comfortable pants was harder than she expected. Why did all her pants had to be skinny jeans? She tried to remember if Ruby had something for her to wear, but her roommate wore tighter clothes than she did. Emma sighed, she would have to wear one of Ruby's skirts, everything else would be too painful to bare.

"Are you seriously going to wear that?" Regina asked raising an eyebrow.

"All my pants are skinny jeans,"

"Of course they are," Regina rolled her eyes, "Let's go, kitchen is clean,"

They rode on Regina's car because she was too snob to get on Emma's Bug. The ride to the hospital was a silent one, and when they got to their destination Regina just talked to ask for a Dr. Whale and to urged him to come. Emma watched at her neighbor giving orders to the hospital staff, and even if she was still in pain, she couldn't help but smile. She was lucky to have Regina. If she would have come by herself she would have to wait for at least 30 minutes to get some kind of attention.

Dr. Whale came in no time and took Emma and Regina to one of the ER beds. There, he examined Emma's legs. Her left leg was almost perfect but her right leg had a huge blister and it itched. Emma flinched when he pressed it, then the doctor measured the burnt are: it was almost 8x6 inches, the blister alone was half of it.

"We have to peel the skin," Whale told Regina.

"What?!" Emma exclaimed loudly "There is no way you are peeling my skin. Take me home, Regina," the blonde said in almost a demanding tone.

"If we don't peel the skin you have high risks of infection," the doctor explained.

"Emma," Regina took one Emma's hands, "the doctor needs to do this, ok?" The brunette looked straight into the blonde's eyes. And Emma felt that Regina touched her soul. The blonde nodded "do you want me to stay with you?" Emma nodded again.

Regina nodded at the doctor and Emma laid down, not letting go of Regina's hand. The blonde felt how the doctor grabbed part of her skin with tweezers and pulled it, peeling her skin. She closed her eyes and held on tightly to Regina's hand.

The pain of her skin being peeled was excruciating, tears started to run down her cheeks again. Emma kept on asking "Are we done?"

And the doctor kept replying "Just a bit more," she wanted to punch him. It was taking for ever, she felt like he was peeling her whole leg.

When the doctor finished torturing her, he covered Emma's leg and started writing the rules that Emma had to follow for the next days: no walking, no sitting - just laying for at least 4 days with the leg a little bit elevated, the doctor made sure that Emma would followed that order by swathing her knee in an almost bent position, not allowing the joint to free move freely. Drinking lots of liquids. No working for 10 days. No sports for 15 days. It might sound like paradise for some, but it was hell for her, specially since Ruby was not home. Plus, she couldn't get the burned area wet, so she wouldn't be able to take a shower in some days.

"Do you have someone to take care of you?" The doctor asked.

Emma shook her head "My roommate is out of town for the next two weeks,"

"Then I'd recommend hiring a nurse," Whale said.

Emma sighed. Damn, Ruby couldn't leave town during a better time.

"I'll watch over her," Regina said to the blonde's surprise. "We are neighbors, so I don't think it will be a problem,"

Whale nodded "Very well, then," he said and stood up "see you in four days for check up," he added and left them alone.

Emma and Regina didn't talk on their way back home. Emma was still recovering from the torture that was having your skin peeled off and Regina was making a plan of what do to now that Emma was one of her responsibilities. After parking the car, Regina told Emma to wait for her help to get out of the car and climb the stairs. With her arm around Emma's waist, Regina helped the blonde up the steps. Now that Emma has under painkillers, she could almost enjoy having her arm wrapped around Regina's shoulders and to feel the brunette so close to her.

"You'll stay in my apartment," Regina announced when when they reached her floor. Before Emma could protest, she added, "It took us ten minutes to climb the stairs, you're staying here and I don't want to hear anything about it,"

Emma opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She had seen the determined look on Regina's face, and she knew it was pointless to try to reason with the brunette. So she leaned on Regina and let her guide her into the apartment.

"Here," Regina gently placed Emma on the sofa, then she put two pillows under Emma's leg, "I'll bring you some water,"

Emma saw Regina turn away and walk towards the kitchen, "Regina?" the blonde asked "Why are you doing this?"

"It only seemed fair," Regina replied without looking at Emma "You took care of me when I was drunk,"

"I thought you were not _that_ drunk," Emma smirked and Regina pursed her lips into a smile.

"So," the brunette said looking at Emma "looks like we are going to be rommies for a while," she pointed out.

"Mhm," Emma drank the water that Regina had brought for her. "You'll have to feed my pets," Regina nodded, "And help me was my hair, since I can't get into the shower,"

"Now, don't get too excited about this," the brunette added rolling her eyes. "I'll be on my room working, these are the TV controls, let me know if you need something,"

Emma watched Regina go into her room, checking all of the brunette's assets. If she wouldn't be in so much pain, she would be enjoying this situation. It would have been so much better to have a broken bone, she had had a couple of those and they hurt less. But there was no such thing as perfect situation, she knew that; but having Regina as her personal maid was very close to perfection, and she'd make the best out of it.

* * *

This chapter is based on something that happened to me one week ago, I didn't have a Regina to take care of me, but my brother has done a good job being my personal nurse/slave :) So I decided to write this so no one of you guys suffer what I've suffered. For you guys that didn't know: DO NOT try this, _**EVER**_. And for the ones that know, please don't make too much fun of me.

Hugs,

M


	10. Waitings

Awww, guys! Thanks for your concern, really - all those reviews and PMs, you guys are the best.

To reply the questions asked by the guests:  
1 - Yes, the chamomile works_ if_ your hair has a light colour. As a kid I used to be as blonde as Emma, as I grew up (and moved from a tropical country to a country with stupid winter) it got darker, now I have light brown/dirty blonde depending on the season. The chamomile helps me keep it lighter :)  
2 - Yes, my skin was peeled and they didn't give me pain killers since I was at the ER and they couldn't really wait until the pills did their effect, they gave me a prescription to get them later, though, I still drink them :). But the pain was not the worse part of this whole situation, the worse that is that the hospital is the university hospital and I'm a med student, and since it is not quite usual to see a burn like mine, they called all the students that were on their rounds and I was only wearing my underwear - it was pretty embarrassing.

Anyway, let's carry on with this story :)

Hugs,

M

* * *

"Fuck you, mother fucking bird!" Emma yelled as she threw her phone against the wall. Regina, who was just entering to the living room, backed off just in time to avoid being hit by the phone.

"I do hope you don't treat my iPad like that," she pointed out as she kneeled to pick the phone up. The Samsung had survived the crash.

"Stupid Flappy Bird," Emma muttered "What's the point on making game that's impossible to pass?"

Regina gave the phone back to Emma "I have no clue what you are talking about," the brunette said "but I am completely sure that your phone is not the one to blame,"

Emma put her phone away and said nothing, she was too angry to try at beat her best score of 13 and to talk to Regina about it. The game was stupid. And impossible to pass. She hated games like that.

"On a less aggressive note," Regina pointed out "it's time to go to the doctor and get your injury check,"

"It's been four days already?" the blonde asked. The question on her mind sounded more like '_it had only been four days? feels like an eternity,_'

"Does it hurt?"

Emma shook her head "It itches," she then replied "it itches so badly that I wish it would hurt instead,"

Regina looked at her with a little bit sadness on her eyes "I'm sorry,"

"What for?" Emma said with a smile "It's not like you poured the boiling on me," the blonde teased

"Still,"

Regina helped Emma to get dressed and go down the stairs. This time their trip was not as silent as the first trip they made to the hospital. Emma was sure that the doctor would say that her skin is perfect once again and that she could go home and back to her normal life. It made her so happy, to know that she'll soon be with her pets, whom she haven't seen since the accident, she would also be able to go back to work and give orders to her workers.

As soon as the girls reached the hospital, Regina went to the front desk and called for Dr. Whale. He was in an operation, so they would have to wait for a while. Waiting. If there was something that annoyed Regina was waiting. Losing time. Precious time that wouldn't come back. The brunette jittery checked her watch every minute, the time seemed to pass slower inside the hospital. She felt like she had lost the whole morning already.

"God!" Emma's voice brought Regina back to the hospital's reality

"I go by Regina now," the brunette teased her "what's wrong?" she said in a more serious voice

"Can you use your _city-hall-y_ powers and kill that girl?" with her head, Emma pointed at the girl behind her

"_City-hall-y _powers?"

"Yeah, like when you got my car towed or got my job back, you know..."

"What has the girl done to you?" Regina asked, discretely staring at the girl behind Emma.

"She's eating with her mouth open,"

Regina arched an eyebrow. Seriously? Emma Swan talking about manners and good behaviour? That was an oxymoron. "What are you talking about?" she asked "You can't even see her,"

"But I can _hear_ it. And I hate that sound," Emma explained closing her hands into tight fists "people chewing, it annoys the shit out of me,"

"Apparently a lot of things do," Regina mocked her, even if she understood Emma's point. She had never thought about it, but the sound was disgusting indeed.

"And she's eating something that it's making me nauseous," the blonde added "by its smell,"

"I told you to have breakfast before coming. If you would have a full stomach you wouldn't feel bad,"

"Shut up," Emma rolled her eyes even if she knew that Regina was right.

Regina had made omelettes for breakfast that morning, if Emma would have been hungry she would have probably eaten all the food. Regina was an excellent cook, but she really didn't feel like eating. Maybe it was the lack of physical activities that made her lose her appetite - well, at least she wouldn't get fat.

"I'll see what's taking so long," Regina said, but before she could stand up Emma placed a hand over hers.

"You don't have to do that," the blonde said, "I can wait," she would have add: it doesn't hurt _that_ much; but Regina would have seen through that lie and it would just make it worse. So she just shrugged "All these people were here before me,"

"As fair and noble as that sounds," Regina stood up, but held Emma's hand on hers. It felt so natural to be holding it, as if her hand was meant to be glued to Emma's, "I don't like waiting,"

"So you can use your _city-hall-y_ powers to cut the line but not to kill someone?" Emma teased her.

"Well, cutting the line is not punishable by the law," Regina argued and the. Let go of Emma's hand and walked towards the ER's desk-table.

The blonde stared at her neighbour as she talked towards the ER's secretary. Regina was standing with her back towards Emma, and that gave the blonde the perfect look of Regina's assets, now _that_ was an ass - she would definitely tap that. Emma also noticed the secretary; the old lady just nodded at whatever was that Regina was saying, then she picked up the phone while she stared at how Regina drummed her fingers against the table and talked to someone. After a while the secretary hung up and spoke to Regina, probably good news because the brunette smiled and walked back to the seat where she had left Emma minutes ago.

"Come on," Regina said as she helped Emma stand up "We are next,"

Emma rolled her eyes at Regina. "I told you we could wait,"

"I don't do waitings,"

_'__Among so many other things'_ Emma thought _'Me, for example'._ The blonde smiled as she bit her cheek, trying not to speak her thoughts out-loud, and leaned over Regina, making the walking somehow less hurtful, or more enjoyable.


	11. Games!

Yeah - I'm still stuck in my house with my leg burnt, and so is Emma. I have plenty of ideas to write about, so if you guys don't mind, I'll publish them little by little... Eventually we'll return to their normal relationship, or will we?

Other than that, thanks for reviewing and following, it really makes my day to know that people are actually enjoying the story!

Hugs,

M

* * *

It had been just one day since she visited the hospital for the check up. It hadn't gone as Emma expected. First changing her bandages had taken forever because the dress was stuck to her skin and they couldn't just pull it off since the hurt skin would be even more injured; so Whale had to do it with patience, and it had hurt - like hell. Second, just when she thought that the undressing would be the most painful part, Whale had cleaned her skin with some antiseptic cream that had itched her. Third, she still couldn't shower, nor walk, and of course, she couldn't work either. She couldn't do anything by herself. Not even stand from the toilet.

"Emma?" She heard Regina calling her from the other side of the bathroom door "Are you alright, dear?"

_'Damn it_.'

"Everything is alright," Emma muttered as she study the possibilities she had to help herself to stand up.

The towel hanger: it was the only thing within her reach that could help Emma to pull herself up. She reached for the metal bar and doing a pull up, she managed to stand from the toilet seat. However, she didn't count on the fact that her body weight was too heavy for the towel hanger to bare, and the metal bar detached from the wall. Even though the blonde was fast enough to extend her arms and preventing herself to fall, the towel hanger didn't have such luck, and the sound of the bar hitting the floor alerted Regina.

"Emma?" Regina knocked the door and tried to enter. "Emma?"

"Fuck," Emma whispered staring the mess she had made in less than two minutes. "I'm fine," she told Regina. "I don't know if your bathroom is, though" she muttered.

"Just open the door, Emma," Was she really worried about her? Or maybe she didn't want to face the consequences of having a dead body in her bathroom.

"You are not going to like this," Emma replied as she made her slowly way towards the door. It hurt so badly to walk.

When she finally opened the door, Regina studied the blonde, checking if Emma was, in fact, alright. When the brunette confirmed that Emma fine she proceeded to scan the bathroom. Her eyes stopped at the towel hanger on the floor and unconscious, she raised an eyebrow.

"I'm really sorry," Emma said shyly. Regina looked at her, she had never pictured Emma as a shy person.

"It's alright, dear" the brunette didn't give it importance and slid her arm around Emma's waist to help her walk with more ease. "I was planning on remodelling the bathroom anyway,"

"Great!" Emma said between moans of pain "More drilling!"

Regina pursed her lips into a smile and gently placed Emma on the couch "Are you ok?"

"No," Emma replied with a sad tone.

"Can I get you something?"

"A new leg, maybe?" Emma smiled at Regina, the brunette sat next to Emma and placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Everything hurts so bad. My back hurts from laying, I can't have my computer with me because it gets too hot and hurts the injury, your iPad and my phone are great, until they run out of battery and there's nothing good on the TV. I know bed rest sounds like heaven but it's hell."

"We can play something," Regina suggested.

"Why, Miss Mills, you never stop teasing, even with my fragile state!" Regina raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding, what games do you have?"

"Do you know how to play Rummikub?"

"Are you kidding me?" Emma grinned at the brunette "Of course I know how to play, I'll kick your ass,"

"Well see about that," Regina replied standing up and getting a deck of card from a box that she had still not unpacked. Emma looked at the box, she always pictured Regina as a perfectionist, and perfectionists never left things unfinished - specially unpacking. "It is not my box," Regina explained, guessing Emma's thoughts. "It's Daniel's, the guy you met some time ago,"

"The asshole one?" Emma asked, even if it was obvious.

"Have you met any other guy?" Regina asked, but before Emma could reply with a sassy comment she reformulated her question "Have you met any other guy _in my apartment_?"

Emma smiled at the new question, Regina was getting good at reading her mind and thinking fast. "No, I haven't,"

Regina rolled her eyes but smiled at Emma and walked towards the sofa were the blonde was resting. She moved the living room table closer to the sofa, so it would be easier for Emma to play and sat on the floor, in front of her opponent. Good thing she was wearing pants. The brunette shuffled the cards and dealt fourteen for her and fourteen for Emma.

Emma had to admit it, Regina was a better player than she had imagined, but that didn't mean that she was not giving Regina a good fight. Their points were close, Emma winning, but just by a bit. Every time Regina shuffled Emma commented on her skills; the blonde was awed by how Regina shuffled, she did it the professional way, like the dealers on the casino. Regina couldn't help but to smile at Emma's fascination, she was as easy to impress as a kid.

Their game was suddenly interrupted by Emma's phone. It rang. And ran again.

"Aren't you going to pick up?" Regina asked and Emma didn't reply. "Aren't you at least going to see who is calling you?"

Emma said something to herself and picked up her phone. Unknown ID. She raised an eyebrow, wondering who was calling her. She never got unknown ID calls.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is this Emma Swan?" she heard a male voice on the other side of the line.

"Yes, who is this?"

"It's Neal," Emma rolled her eyes. '_Great'._ "I don't know if you remember me, August's friend,"

"What do you want, Neal?" Emma asked with no enthusiasm. She wished she would be lucky enough not to remember him.

"My car broke last week," he started explaining, "I took it to -,"

"Get to the point," Emma interrupted him. She was too annoyed to be polite.

"August lent me his bike, I was wondering when could I pick it up,"

"Whenever you want," she replied.

It was not like she could go anywhere, and the faster she met this idiot, the faster he'd be out of her hair. Damned that day when she told August he could leave the bike at their building. It had only caused her trouble: her car being towed and now Neal's visit. '_That is what happens when you are nice to people, Emma_' she told herself

"Ok," Neal said "I'll pass by tomorrow morning,"

"Great," she lied and hung up. Regina was staring at her with a smirk on her face. "What?"

"Nothing, I just thought you were only sarcastic towards me,"

"My sarcasm knows no boundaries and doesn't discriminate against only one kind of people," Emma joked. "Although you and Neal do fit in the same kind of people,"

"We do?" Regina asked, even if she didn't know who this Neal guy was.

"Yeah," Emma started playing again, "The kind of people who annoy me," the blonde smiled at Regina.

And Regina smiled back at her.


	12. Jealous?

After one month of daily visits to the doctor and not being able of taking a proper shower, I am finally off the hook!

Thank you for the support, you can't imagine what it means to me :)

Hugs,

M.

* * *

"So, who is this Neal guy?" Regina asked casually when they were done playing. They had played for almost three hours, and soon the clock on the wall would mark 11 p.m.

Apparently, Emma had forgotten about Neal dropping by the next day. And apparently, being reminded about it had upset her.

"He's a friend of a friend who's like a brother to me," she replied to keep it simply.

"Why do you dislike him so much?"

"Because he is _so_ pushy," Emma replied. She was annoyed, not at Regina but at Neal, for simply existing "He has invited me at least 10 to go out with him,"

'_So_,' Regina thought '_This guy likes Emma_'. It bothered her more than it was socially acceptable, and that made her feel uncomfortable in her own skin. And, what was that feeling that was almost breaking her heart? Jealousy, really? When had she grown to care so much about Emma? Probably, somewhere between emptying a cooler-box filled with freezing water over her and taking care of her while she was injured.

"Why don't you just go out with him?" Regina managed to ask without showing her true colors.

"My gut tells me not to do it,"

"Oh," Regina commented with a smirk "I didn't know your gut had superpowers,"

Emma nodded "And he's always right," the blonde proudly added, tapping her belly.

"He?" Regina asked confused.

The blonde, once again, nodded, "I was twelve and really bored when I got my appendix removed, everyone was at school and I had to stay home. So I named some parts of my body, and talked to them," she explained, trying to not sound crazy "so, when my head hurts I say _'Now, now Sofia, you are giving me a headache,_'," the blonde pointed to her head, as if she was scolding her head.

"You must be the weirdest person I know," Regina pointed out.

Emma smiled "My stomach name is Henry," she added, now grinning at her stomach. "He's takes care of me, feeding me and all that shit,"

Regina stared at the blonde, who was still looking at her almost non-existent belly. It made Regina imagine how would Emma look if she got pregnant, it was quite an endearing picture, to be honest. "What about your heart?" she asked out of the blue.

"It doesn't have a name yet," Emma replied nonchalantly "I decided I would name it after the person that would manage to own it, and so far, no one has been able to claim it," Regina felt Emma's eyes looking right into her soul and brain, so she had to look away. She was starting to believe that soon the blonde would be able to read her mind.

"We should wash your hair," the brunette commented standing up, "It looks disgusting and we don't want Neal thinking that you lack hygiene," she added smirking.

"Is that your best excuse to see me topless and ran your fingers through my hair?" Emma teased her back. "You could have just asked, you know," the blonde added standing up and following Regina into the bathroom that she had destroyed a while ago.

Emma had not washed her hair since the accident, it made her feel quite disgusting. She had talked with Regina last night, and the brunette had agreed on helping her. They had already made a plan, Emma would sit in a small chair next to the bathtub, and Regina would wash her hair just like they did on the hair-saloons.

The blonde took her shirt off, she didn't want it to get wet. She was used to walk on nothing but her bra around Ruby because they pretty much grew up together. But as soon as she saw Regina blushing, Emma regretted her action. How could she be so stupid? just because _she_ was comfortable didn't mean that Regina was.

"I can put it on again, if it makes you feel less uncomfortable,"

"Nonsense," Regina replied taking her blazer off and rolling up her shirt's sleeves. "It'll get wet,"

Emma didn't argue with her neighbour and caretaker, she simply sat on the chair and laid a little bit backwards to make it easier for Regina to wash her hair. The blonde closed her eyes as soon as she felt Regina's fingers rubbing her head, trying to remember every second of the moment.

"This is _so_ good," she thought out-loud, "I mean, having my hair washed," she added, trying to fix it. Regina didn't say anything, she just raised an eyebrow and smirked at the blonde before she continued washing Emma's hair.

The blonde didn't say anything else while Regina washed her hair, neither did Regina. When Emma's hair was clean, she dried it on her own, changed into her pyjamas and went to bed. She couldn't fall asleep, though; she kept on remembering Regina's hands massaging her head, how cute and concentrated the brunette looked, how hard Emma had resisted the urge to reach out and cup Regina's cheek with her hand.

'_Pull yourself together, Swan_,' Emma told herself '_You _don't_ like Regina._'

* * *

She had been grumpy since her alarm when off, last night she couldn't get any sleep and she had Regina to thank for. It was as if the Brunette had put a spell on her while she washed her head and now Emma could only think about her. Then, as if her day couldn't get worse, the door bell rang while Emma was having breakfast, Regina had cooked something for her and now she was taking a shower; so Emma had to get the door, and talk to Neal.

"Seriously?" Emma muttered half asleep "It's 7 am, he's definitely not normal," she grabbed her apartment keys that laid on the door and walked towards the door.

The blonde opened the door to find a smiling Neal, who was carrying a Starbuck to-go paper cup. With out thinking about it twice, Emma grabbed the cup and placed the keys on Neal's hand.

"August's keys are right next to the door, in the key hanger," she explained after sipping a bit of coffee, "It's the one with the Pinocchio key chain,"

Neal raised an eyebrow, probably thinking that they key chain was a joke, but it wasn't. Emma had gifted it to August when they were kids and, surprisingly, he had kept it all these years.

"Look, I got a second degree burn and can't climb the stairs," Emma said when she saw that Neal had no intentions of moving "So, go, get the keys and bring me back my house keys,"

The guy just nod and ran upstairs, Emma stayed laying on the door frame. There was no point on walking back to the kitchen if she would have to open the door once Neal returned. Then again, she could just leave it open and tell Neal to close it behind him. Yes, that was a good idea. Besides, the doctor had told her not to be too long on standing position.

With Neal's coffee still on her hands, she walked back to the kitchen and sat on a chair. She was eating the second pancake that Regina had made for her when Neal called her name from the door.

"Yes, just leave the keys on the table and close the - ," she shut up when she saw Neal in Regina's apartment. "What are you doing here?" Emma knew that the brunette would be_ so_ angry if she would see him in her apartment. She would probably have him arrested, Emma didn't really mind that outcome, though. Maybe Neal would think that Emma is a crazy person with crazy friends and would just leave her alone.

"I just wanted to make sure that you are alright," he said resting his hands on Regina's table.

"I'm fine, thank you," Emma tried to sound as polite as possible, "You can leave now,"

"Are you sure there's nothing you need from me?" Neal insisted, placing his hand over hers.

Emma was about to reply when a voice interrupted their conversation "She said she was fine," both turned to see Regina walking towards them. She was fully dressed but her hair was still damped, she looked somehow angry. Emma had never seen Regina sexier. "Now, I'll kindly ask you to leave my apartment or I'll have to call the sheriff,"

Emma suppressed a grin. Leave it to Regina and her city-hall-y superpowers to save the day. Neal didn't say anything, he didn't have to, he just placed Emma's keys on the kitchen table and walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him. Regina followed him with her eyes.

"You can stop smiling now," Regina said turning on her heels to face Emma.

"As you wish, my knight in shining armour," Emma said in a fake english accent.

"You were right, he's _so _pushy,"

"And you were _so_ jealous," the blonde added winking at her neighbour.

"I was not!" Regina tried to defend herself, afraid that her body would betray her.

"Sure," Emma shrugged "Keep telling that to yourself,"

"Why would I be jealous of that guy?"

"Because you like me," the blonde said, unable to hide a grin, "You like-_like_ me,"

"Shut up and finish your breakfast already," the brunette changed topics.

"Now, Regina, you can't be both my knight in shining armour and my mother!" Emma rolled her eyes and kept eating her breakfast. She was not stupid, she knew what she had seen, and Regina was definitely angry at Neal. Whether is was due to a motherly instinct or a lover jealousness, Emma couldn't be sure. But she would find it out. She just needed to think of a plan.


	13. Definitely Jealous!

I finally found the silver lining to this all burnt thing! (yes, I'm one of those people who are always trying to see the bright side and I've found it!)  
So, yesterday I went to the pharmacy to get the skin-repair cream that the doctor told me to get, when I met the new guy that works on there. He's the love of my life, I just know it. He looks like effin Chris Evans!

Anyway, he must think I'm a freak, because when he gave me the cream and asked me "Need something more?" I just stared at him, thousands of inappropriate answers flooding my mind... And when I finally managed to 'pull myself together' I thanked him like 10 times for the cream -.- Well, it was good while it lasted - in my mind.

Thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews, I try to answer as much as I can, but I've been busy lately...

And now off to what we are really doing here!

* * *

"Look," Emma showed Regina her phone's screen "I ordered all my apps alphabetically," the blonde said with a proud smile.

"You must be bored," Regina pointed out.

Emma just shrugged "I already counted all the lights on the ceiling and the squares on the floor,"

"Are you sure you don't want me to talk to Whale?"

The blonde and the brunette had this conversation on their way to the hospital. Emma had told Regina she didn't want to cut the line, she was just not used do be like that, and she had always hated those people. It was not fair. She understood cutting the line the first time, and then on her first check up; but now was the injury didn't hurt that much, she could wait like everyone else did.

"Regina," Emma looked into her eyes "these people are here for a reason, I won't cut the line just because have connections,"

"Very well," Regina returned to the file she was reading on her iPad. The brunette then raised her head, she was about to add something when Emma's phone's started ringing. Emma started at the phone. "Are you going to pick up?" she asked. The caller ID showed: Mary Margaret.

"Ummm," Emma made a sound before answering the call "Hello, mom," the blonde stayed quiet, listening the voice on the other side of th phone. "I'm ok, I'm at the hospital,"

Regina heard a shocked '_The Hospital?!_' come out of Emma's phone. Emma closed one eye and moved the phone away from her ear. A thought hit Regina: had Emma not tell her mother about the accident?

"Everything is alright, mom," Emma said after a while "Just a regular check up." The blonde listened to the voice on the other side of the phone "yeah, I'll call you when I'm done... ok... yeah... I love you too... tell dad I say hi... yeah... bye... "

Regina was staring at the blonde with her jaw dropped and the screen on her iPad completely black due to lack of use.

"What?" Emma asked Regina

"You lied to your mother,"

"No," Emma said casually "I told her the truth... partially,"

"That counts as lying!"

"I didn't picture you as the type of person that cares about honesty," Emma argued. Regina pursed her lips into a line - she was upset. "Look, you don't know my mother. If she would know about my situation, she would have come and make me go crazy,"

"I bet it must be horrible to have a carrying mother," Regina replied dryly. The blonde would have argued that she would change mothers with Regina in a heart beat, but she knew it was a lie - and Regina would know that too, the brunette knew Emma's opinions about Cora Mills.

"Fine," Emma said when she didn't know what else to do, "I'll call my mother after the check up,"

Regina didn't say anything after that, she just returned to her lecture. But deep inside she was satisfied with the fact that Emma would do what she had told her to do. Emma didn't bother her either, instead the blonde started to speak with an old woman who was sitting next to them. The woman had asked Emma about her injury, and after Emma told her how she got burned, the old lady started telling her own stories about getting burned.

If the old lady would be talking to Regina, instead of to Emma, Regina would be annoyed and would have found a way to get away from the woman. But Emma, she was a different story, she listened to every word the old lady said, with a smile on her face. As if the blonde was treasuring the stories that the grey-headed woman was telling her, she even laughed sometimes. The whole thing was adorable. Regina would have never thought that the bitch that lived above her could be so good with old people.

"I'm going to get a coffee," Regina stood up, "Do you want something?"

"Nah, I'm fine talking to Mrs. Martin," Emma smiled at Regina and then returned to her conversation with Mrs. Martin, who was now showing Emma pictures of her six cats.

Mrs. Martin was called by her doctor not very long after Regina left to get a drink. Emma waved at the old lady and wished her luck during her heart check-up. Then the blonde returned to her phone. She was still proud to have all the applications arranged by alphabetical order.

"Hello," a man's voice made Emma raise her face from her phone. "Have we met before, love?"

Emma studied him. He was a tall, slim but fit, man. His hair was dark brown, almost black, and so were his eyes. He looked like a pirate, a pirate that she had seen before. "You were the guy that helped Regina emptying the icebox on me after the football game," the blonde pointed out.

"Almost didn't recognize you with dry clothes on," he chuckled and Emma rolled her eyes. "The name is Killian Jones," Killian introduced himself with a grin.

"Emma," the blonde replied and shook his hand

"Let me make up for our last meeting, love, I'll buy you lunch,"

"I'm waiting for the doctor," she added, not making an excuse but stating a fact.

"After you are done, then,"

Emma pursed her lips into a smile and Killian smiled back at her. He was being pushy; not annoyingly pushy as Neal, but cute pushy. If she would be into men, she would definitely date someone like him. Emma was about to reply when someone joined the conversation.

"What are you doing here, Jones?" they both turned to see who had broken their moment, the smile disappeared on Killian's face; but it grew wider on Emma's, so this is how annoyed-angry Regina sounded.

"I -" his voiced trailed off and this eyebrows furrowed "What are_ you_ doing here?"

"I -" Regina didn't know where to start explaining. Last time they met, she had trashed Emma. He had even helped her emptying the box filled with ice over Emma. How could she explain her sudden change of heart? She just limited herself to drink her coffee.

"Wow, you've left Regina speechless," Emma stated, definitely amused "I'm definitely letting you buy me that lunch,"

"Except you can't walk, nor sit," Regina pointed out, trying to hide her annoyance.

Emma decided to push her luck further and commented "We can lay down, right?" Killian nodded with a grin.

"You will not do such thing as long as you are responsibility, Miss Swan," Regina said, her eyes piercing Emma. Emma couldn't help but to smile at Regina's annoyance, she was _definitely_ jealous. Just the idea of Regina feeling something for her thrilled Emma. Could it be? that someone as perfect as Regina could be interested in a mess like Emma?

"Your responsibility?" Killian asked confused, his question snapping Emma out of her thoughts. "I thought you hated this lass,"

"I do not _hate_ her," Regina rolled her eyes. '_Not anymore, anyways,_' she wanted to add. "and yes, since her roommate is not in town I'm taking care of her,"

"Is your roommate that hot chick that was with you at the game?" He asked, apparently ignoring Regina comment. Emma nodded. "I think I should_ move in_ with you, love," Emma could see his real intentions behind his smirk, he had also noticed how jealous and annoyed Regina was at their so-called building romance.

"Then we could lay next to each other every night," Emma pointed out and it was his time to agree.

"There won't be any moving in nor laying next to each other," Regina said, her grip holding tightly the plastic cup of coffee.

"My, my, Regina," Hook said pretending to be shocked, "If I _wouldn't_ know better, I _would_ say you are jealous," he winked at Emma. "Now, the real question here is, are you jealous because _I_ asked _her_ out, or because _she_ accepted to go with _me_?"

"Yes, Regina," Emma addressed to her in a teasing tone, "Why are you jealous?" she asked, blinking innocently at the brunette.

Regina shifted her gaze from Emma to Killian, both were smiling at her, waiting for her to make her confession. But she wouldn't. She wouldn't never tell Killian, and much less Emma, that she had started to develop feelings towards the blonde. Because she knew that Emma was a tease, just as Killian. And Regina had have enough players for a life time.

"I am not jealous," Regina replied with a fake smile and confident voice tone, that must have convinced Killian and Emma, because they both looked confused. "You want to have lunch with Killian, fine. Make sure to be home before 8 P.M., or you _will_ have to sleep with him, and his house is a mess," she added and turned on her heels.

"Wait, Regina!" Emma called, but Regina had already left the ER. "Great," she muttered.

"Don't worry," Killian shrugged, "She likes you too much to be angry at you for too long,"

"And do tell, Killian, how do you know she likes me _too much_?"

"Because I've never seen her this possessive over anything," he explained and laid back on the chair he was sitting, "Not even when her mother gave the job she deserved to someone else,"

The blonde didn't say anything, she just stared at the now empty hallway that Regina had walked a few moments ago. She wondered if they would have an awkward conversation once she got home. _Home_. Home? Since when she considered Regina's place her home? Was this really something more than just the usual flirting? The voice of Ruby talking about being in love popped into her head, she shook the thoughts away - she was NOT in love - and turned to face Killian.

"You will take me to Regina's apartment, right?" Emma asked him.

"Of course," he said with a smile, "I'm sure Regina would skin my alive if something happened to you,"


	14. He's not you

Thanks for the follows and favourites and reviews! Specially the guest that commented that my burnt was a blessing because she/he liked the direction the fic took, it really made my day!

Sadly, I bear bad news for all of us. I'm entering partials' time, so I won't be able to update in a month (I really need to pass these subjects) so, until the 8th of May I won't be updating. I'm really sorry about that, so I'll leave you with this longer-than-usual chapter and hopefully some SQ moments you'll like!

Also, I'm starting to think on changing the category to M, I don't think I'll write something extremely graphic, but sometimes I worry that what I am writing is not completely T-category. Would someone mind?

I hope you'll still be here in one month (and a bit more).

Hugs,

M.

* * *

Killian drove Emma to her building and helped her climb the stairs until Regina's apartment, just as he has promised he would. But he didn't stay long, he waited on the edge of the stairway, and as soon as Regina opened the door, he jogged down them. '_Coward!_' Emma rolled her eyes, he had left her on her own to face Regina's fury.

"You are home early," Regina said, sounding more shocked than angry.

Emma raised an eyebrow confused. "You told me to be home early,"

"Not this early," the brunette let Emma into her house, "I thought you were going to have lunch with Killian,"

"We had lunch," Emma reply, clearly not giving it as much importance as Regina was, "We ate those sandwiches they serve at the hospital cafeteria and then he dropped me,"

"That man really knows how to charm a girl," Regina pointed out with sarcasm. She couldn't believe that someone would take Emma to the Hospital cafeteria when they were supposed to be on a date. Emma didn't seem upset, which said a lot about the type of men she liked.

"He was nice," the blonde shrugged and walked pass Regina, not realising how the comment had disturbed the brunette, "But he was not you," she added and turned on her heels to meet with Regina's smile. "Oh, Whale told me I should get a cream at the pharmacy, I would have asked Killian, but I didn't have money with me," Emma said sitting on the couch and turning the TV on. "Can we go later?"

"Sure," Regina answered the question, still pleased with Emma's confession, "I just need to get some work done before," she added and then walked towards her room, where she had been working before Emma rang the bell.

Emma saw two episodes of Two Broke Girls, which was the only good thing that was on the TV; she tried to sit through a whole episode of _Snooki & Jwoww_ but she stopped because she could hear her neurons crying for help. She played on Regina's iPad until all the games became too boring. And then, she studied her nails, and the frayed ends of her sweater - she knew that she shouldn't bother Regina because the other woman was working, but the blonde was bored as hell. So, she decided to limp towards Regina's room.

Emma found Regina sitting on her bed. The brunette had changed into sweat pants, and was sitting with her legs crossed like a Native American; she had her glasses on and was biting her lower lip while she studied a file. She looked hot. Without any notice, Emma raised her injured limb and dropped her body on the bed. By the corner of her eye, she saw Regina bouncing a little bit as a side reaction of her leap.

"Careful," Regina said, not even raising her sight from the paper.

"Relax," Emma said laying on her back and resting her head over her palms "Been doing it for a while, besides, Whale said I'm almost recovered," Regina didn't reply and the blonde stayed in silence for a while. Then she opened her mouth, "I'm bored, 'Gina,"

"Don't call me like that," the brunette snapped.

"Like what?"

"_Gina_," it even rolled with bitterness on her tongue.

"Why not? your asshole boyfriend calls you like that"

"Ex-boyfriend," she corrected Emma "And that's precisely why I don't want you to call me like that,"

Emma studied Regina's face. She talked about her ex-boyfriend with bitterness, and with all reason; yet her face showed no distress or anger. As if Regina could control her facial expressions to the point of being complete stoic.

"What about Killian?"

"What about him?" Regina raised her face, her eyes piercing Emma's.

"Is he also one of your exs?"

Regina raised an eyebrow "Do you seriously think I'd date someone like Killian?"

"Why not?" Emma asked confused.

"He can't take_ anything_ seriously,"

"Neither can I,"

"And he's a player,"

"So was your ex,"

"What is your point?" Regina asked annoyed.

Emma studied her next words, she didn't want to piss Regina off "Nothing, I'm just trying to understand why you wouldn't date something like him," she stated after a while, her eyes fixed at the ceiling.

"Do you like him?" Regina moved a little bit; the brunette had probably done it unconsciously, but since they were both on the same bed and Emma had felt it.

"He's a cool dude," the blonde replied nonchalantly.

"That's not what I mean, and you know it,"

Emma rolled on one of her sides and rested her head on her flexed arm "Oh, you meant if I like him like you like me?" the blonde teased her.

"What? No!" Regina said before returning to her papers, but Emma could see that the brunette was blushing slightly. They both stayed in silence, Emma bit her lower lip and studied Regina while Regina pretended to study the file she had on her legs, but secretly, she was waiting for Emma's answer.

"Well, no." Emma replied, "I don't_ like-like_ him, Regina,"

"Good,"

Emma laughed, and her laughter apparently confused Regina, because the brunette stared at her with a raised eyebrow "Has anyone ever told you that you are like crazy jealous?"

"I am not jealous,"

"Fine, possessive,"

"I am not possessive either," Regina snapped at her, "It's ..." she started, but then the brunette stopped talking.

"It's what?"

Regina stopped pretending to be studying her paper and faced Emma, the blonde was watching her with such an intense gaze that made it impossible for Regina to look away. But the gaze was not uncomfortable nor intimidating, it was cozy, and curious. Emma really wanted to hear what Regina had to say. The brunette exhaled, closed the file she had on her legs and placed it over her nightstand.

"It's just that I already got my heart broken once," the brunette said finally opening up to the other woman, "I'm done having relationships with people who _l__ike-like_ more than one people," Regina added, using Emma's vocabulary without even noticing.

Emma looked at her. And for a moment Regina regretted the words she had spoken, she was ready to hear Emma teasing her with something like 'I didn't know we were on a relationship,'. But the blonde didn't say anything for a while, and her silence seemed to unease Regina even more. Then Emma decided to sit straight and place a hand on Regina's tight.

"Regina," the blonde said in a whisper, and it almost made Regina shiver, "You are the most beautiful, _sassiest_ and smartest woman I've ever met. Anyone who cheats on you is an imbecile,"

"You just say that because I feed you,"

"Well, the best way to a woman's heart is through her stomach," Emma joked and gently squished Regina's thigh before laying back again, enjoying the closeness to Regina. She might never say it out loud, but she liked sharing a bed with her neighbour, even if they were not doing the things Emma wanted to do in a bed with Regina. It still felt nice to have Regina by her side.

What Emma would have never expected was that the brunette sitting next to her was having the exact same thoughts.

The blonde didn't bother Regina again after that, Emma just stayed staring at the brunette while she finished doing some paperwork. As far as Emma understood, and cared, Regina managed both the Mayor's and the City Hall's accounts and her job was to administrate the money that came in and went out. Basically, Regina was in charge of making use of the taxes and seeing that no one from the Mayor's office stole the town's budget. Emma knew some of the things because her father had made her work on their industries for couple of summer when she was a teenager. To be fair, she didn't mind the counts and numbers, but she didn't feel like wasting her life calculating the money that other people could and would waste.

"I thought you had a lot of work to do," Emma commented when she realised that Regina was closing the files and putting them in a pile.

"I have worked for almost four hours, Emma,"

"Four hours?" Emma asked, Regina nodded with a smile, "Well, I guess times flies when I just stare at you,"

Regina's smile grew wider, and she started feeling butterflies in the stomach. For a few seconds, she flavoured the moment, the way Emma made her feel. But then she remembered they had to go back to real-life, so she cleared the throat and spoke "You said you needed to go to the pharmacy?" Emma nodded. "Alright, let me get changed and I'll drive you there,"

The brunette stood up and started taking the sweat pants off, she was wearing a red boyshorts underwear. Emma was amazed of how used to each other they had become; when Emma first met Regina, they couldn't even stand looking at each other's eyes for more than half a minute, and now Regina took her pants off in front of her, as if it would be something normal. Not that Emma really cared, Regina had perfectly toned legs, and she couldn't help but stare.

"Do you mind?" she heard Regina snapped her out of her thoughts. The brunette didn't seemed upset, and she had a smirk on her face.

"I'm sorry," Emma blinked couple of times and stared at the ceiling. "You have the most perfect legs I've ever seen,"

"Are you paying me a compliment, Miss Swan?" Regina teased her.

"Merely stating a fact, Miss Mills,"

The brunette was giving her back to Emma, so the blonde couldn't see the smile that had appeared on Regina's face as a consequence to her last comment. And for that Regina was thankful. Emma was quite a charmer, and she already knew that her flattery opened a lot of doors for her, there was no need for Regina's smile to reassure Emma that she was making her way into Regina's heart.

Regina took Emma to the pharmacy, as promised. The original plan was to wait for Emma in the car, but on their way to the drug store she remembered she needed to buy dental floss and her vitamin D pills, so Regina decided to enter the shop with the blonde. This pharmacy in particular had recently open, Regina knew that because Cora had made her look into the owner's accounts to see if everything was in order and not just a way to laundry money.

"Emma!" both Regina and Emma turned around to see a redhead walking towards them. Emma's brain couldn't match a name to her face. "It's been a while since we saw each other," her smile suggested what they had done last time they saw each other. "You never called or answered my calls,"

Shit. Ruby had told her hundred times that those one night stands would come back, biting her ass. The redhead was wearing a white coat, so she was into a science: doctor, pharmacist, researcher. '_Remember, Emma. Redhead, around early thirties, green eyes._' the blonde told herself, '_How many redheads have you banged_?' probably a lot of them, she had been very promiscuous during her days of glory, but that was behind her now.

"Right, I'm sorry..." she tried to remember the name, "Suzanne..." Emma guessed, she was sure that the name started with an S.

"Samantha," the woman corrected Emma, but didn't seem bothered by the fact that Emma had forgotten her name.

"The thing is that I lost all my contacts," the blonde lied, and Regina could see it. "And I don't pick up the phone when the ID is unknown, security reasons, you know?"

"Um, _alrighty_!" Samantha seemed to believe Emma's story. Which made Regina want to slap her.

Seriously? Who could be so stupid to believe that? Were all women this stupid when they had a crush on someone? Or was this Samantha girl more idiotic than the average starstruck girl?

"Here, I'll call you and you can save my number," the redhead suggested, took her phone out and dialled Emma's number. Both Emma and Regina noticed that Samantha knew Emma's number by heart - which was definitely under the Freaky-Obsessive category for both of them.

Emma's phone vibrated, "Oh, there it is," the blonde said with a force smile and took her phone out of her pant's pockets. Her fake grin turned into a flat line when the three women saw what Emma's screen was showing.

'_Creepy Redhead. DO NOT ANSWER,_' Emma quickly pressed the bottom to hang up and looked from Samantha to Regina, who was trying hard not to smile, and then back to the redhead.

"Do you think I'm creepy?" Samantha asked. This time she sounded angry and on the verge of having a tantrum.

"Would it make you feel better to know that now I_ do_ remember you?" Emma replied with another answer and bit her lip. How could she forget about _Sammie_? Emma had moved twice because Samantha would stalk her. Ruby even suggest Emma to get a restriction order against her.

"Get out of my pharmacy,"

"But - "

"OUT!" Samantha yelled.

Before Emma could make a bigger mess, Regina grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out the store. Leaving an angry woman, still screaming words, behind. Regina couldn't help but smiling at Emma. It seemed odd to the brunette, that she would get jealous over Emma being with men, yet encountering one of Emma's ex-lovers didn't upset her at all. On the contrary, it amused her. Maybe it was because of the ID that Emma had given her, would she be feeling like this if instead of _Creepy Redhead_ the ID would be _Sexy Redhead_? She tried not to think about it.

"Well, that was interesting," Regina commented when both of them got into her's car. "And then you mock _my_ poor choice of partners,"

"She was never my girl friend," Emma snapped annoyed, which made Regina even more amused. "We had a _one_ night stand, four or five years ago, and she doesn't seem to get over it,"

"Says a lot about your love-making skills," the brunette's mouth said before her brain could stop the words. She instantly blushed and regretted having spoken.

"Why, Miss Mills, eager to find out?" Emma teased Regina.

Regina obviously didn't reply to the question. She just limited to tightened her grip around the wheel, trying to focus in something different that the tension that was starting to build between the two of them. "I wonder under which name you have my number," she said after a while to ease the atmosphere.

"Under: that bitch that lives below you," Emma replied nonchalantly.

"Seems fitting," the brunette accepted, "At least I don't have a 'Do not answer,' note, right?"

Emma smiled, "No, you have a 'Remember to be annoying,' one,"

Regina grinned at Emma. She was such a tease. The blonde had more layers than an onion, and the more she got to know Emma, the more she liked her. Which scared her, because she hadn't like someone this much since Daniel. And she knew how that had ended, even if Emma had told her that only had imbecile would cheat on her. Regina wanted to believe in Emma, she really wanted to. That was the moment when she decided to let her guard down, and let Emma in.

The blonde was definitely worth the risk.


End file.
